International Polar Year 2007–2008 - WMO

Box 1 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, Baltimore, U.S.A., April 6-17, 2009
Antarctic Treaty-Arctic Council Joint Meeting
Washington Declaration on the International Polar Year and Polar Science
On the occasion of the conclusion of the fourth International
Polar Year (IPY), the Member States of the Arctic Council and
the Consultative Parties to the Antarctic Treaty,
Observing that the IPY occurred against a backdrop of rapid
and significant climate and environmental change in the polar
regions,
Acknowledging the unique scientific importance of the polar
regions, both as actors and barometers of these changes, which
are vital to the functioning of the earth’s terrestrial, biological,
climate, ocean and atmosphere systems,
Recognising the need to improve he modelling and prediction of
change on a regional basis,
Recognising the significant work of the Intergovernmental panel
on Climate Change in assessing documented and predicted
changes in polar regions and in relating them to larger global
systems,
Affirming the importance of the IPY’s findings to the scientific
community, Arctic residents, including indigenous peoples, and
to humanity as a whole,
Observing the success of participants in forming IPY collaborations
that integrate the human, physical, and biological aspects of their
research to achieve system-scale knowledge,
Recognising the vital contributions toward understanding the
characteristics and dynamics of polar regions and their roles for
the world’s ecosystems made by scientists and other participants
from over sixty countries,
Noting the extensive efforts of the International Council for
Science (ICSU), the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO),
the many IPY National Committees, and the scientists and other
participants around the globe whose research made IPY a great
success,
Recalling the goals for the IPY set forth in the 2006 Edinburgh
Antarctic Declaration on the International Polar Year 2007–
2008, and the strong support for IPY expressed by the Arctic
Council in the 2006 Salekhard Declaration,
Expecting that the legacy of the IPY will continue well beyond its
formal conclusion,
Hereby:
1. Urge states, national and international scientific bodies, and
other interested parties to cooperate to deliver a lasting legacy
from the IPY, and to support appropriate infrastructures to
achieve this;
2. Commit themselves to reviewing key issues related to scientific
cooperation and recent scientific findings at the biennial
Ministerial Meetings of the Arctic Council and annual Antarctic
Treaty Consultative Meetings, and further commit to using
science to help inform the cooperative development of measures
to address the threats to the polar regions;
3. Call upon IPY participants to continue to make data collected
under IPY 2007–2008 and its legacy programs available in
an open and timely manner, recall the obligations related to
exchange of scientific information to this effect in the Antarctic
Treaty, and encourage the same spirit of scientific openness
among Arctic researchers;
4. Endorse the goal of strengthening international cooperation
at all levels in polar regions among States, scientists, Arctic
residents, including indigenous peoples, and their institutions
in areas such as educational outreach, human and ecosystem
health, environmental protection, and scholarships or young
scientists;
5. Encourage the development of coordinated research and
scientific observations at both poles to compare the current
dynamics of polar areas and their contributions to the Earth’s
processes and changes;
6. Recommend that governments continue their support for
efforts initiated during IPY to create and link observational
systems in order to improve the modelling and prediction of
climate change on both regional and temporal scales;
7. Encourage states and international bodies to use the scientific
understandings derived from IPY research to support the
development of concrete steps to protect the environment in the
polar regions;
8. Support the analysis and use of scientific data and information
collected from the polar regions as a result of IPY to contribute to
future assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change, as well as other efforts to address climate change, and
future Arctic Council assessments;
9. Call upon states, organisations, scientists, and other
stakeholders to continue to engage with young people to cultivate
the next generation of polar scientists, and to communicate with
the general public to develop an awareness of the importance of
polar research for life in all regions of the world; and
10. Affirm the value of collaboration and coordination between
states and Arctic residents, including indigenous peoples, for the
benefit of polar research.
Adopted at Washington, April 6, 2009.
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